*

Scant clarity as yet on US trade talks

*

Mega-cap earnings, US jobs and GDP data on tap

*

Global recession risk high due to Trump's tariffs,

economists

say

*

Canadians vote in election dominated by concerns about

Trump

(Updates to U.S. markets open)

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, April 28 (Reuters) - Wall Street stocks showed

little conviction on Monday and gold eased as market

participants watched for signs of progress in tariff

negotiations at the top of an eventful week of corporate

earnings and economic data.

Weakness in the tech sector held the Nasdaq back,

but gold lost ground and benchmark U.S. Treasury yields

oscillated.

"The news has evened out," Thomas Martin, Senior Portfolio

Manager at GLOBALT in Atlanta. "There's not really any news

today that's market-moving."

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Monday said many of

the top U.S. trading partners have made "very good" tariff

proposals, adding that China's recent moves to exempt certain

U.S. goods from its retaliatory tariffs showed a willingness to

de-escalate trade tensions between the world's two largest

economies.

"We just keep on trying to dial into what the trade

negotiations are going to be like," Martin added. "And it's this

combination of public statements versus what's really going on

behind the scenes."

Despite hopes for progress, economists polled by Reuters say

the risk of global recession is high as a result of Trump's

tariffs; the same group of economists expected the world economy

to grow at a healthy clip a mere three months ago.

First quarter earnings season heats up this week, with Meta

Platforms ( META ), Microsoft ( MSFT ), Apple ( AAPL ) and

Amazon.com ( AMZN ) among the high-profile results on the

docket.

While Monday was quiet with respect to U.S. economic data,

the week is back-end loaded with closely watched indicators such

as Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE), the Institute for

Supply Management's purchasing managers' index (PMI), an advance

take on U.S. GDP and the April employment report.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 146.72 points,

or 0.40%, to 40,275.27, the S&P 500 rose 6.25 points, or

0.11%, to 5,531.38 and the Nasdaq Composite fell 15.79

points, or 0.09%, to 17,367.15.

European shares gained ground on trade negotiation optimism.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe

rose 3.46 points, or 0.42%, to 828.20.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.74%, while

Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index rose 14.58

points, or 0.71%.

Emerging market stocks rose 6.24 points, or

0.57%, to 1,103.34. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares

outside Japan closed higher by 0.58%, to

573.95, while Japan's Nikkei rose 134.25 points, or

0.38%, to 35,839.99.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes fell

2.1 basis points to 4.245%, from 4.266% late on Friday.

The 30-year bond yield fell 2.8 basis points to

4.7099% from 4.738% late on Friday.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in

step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve,

fell 2.6 basis points to 3.736%, from 3.762% late on Friday.

The dollar edged lower as investors awaited further trade

talks progress and girded themselves for an eventful week.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,

fell 0.59% to 99.16, with the euro up 0.33% at $1.1398.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar weakened 0.68%

to 142.69.

Sterling strengthened 0.76% to $1.3415.

The Mexican peso weakened 0.09% versus the dollar at

19.555.

The Canadian dollar strengthened 0.21% versus the

greenback to C$1.38 per dollar. Canadians are going to the polls

on Monday after an election campaign in which U.S. President

Donald Trump's tariffs and musings about annexing Canada became

the central issue.

Crude oil softened as investors weighed a potential supply

increase from OPEC+ amid ongoing trade uncertainties.

U.S. crude fell 0.94% to $62.43 a barrel and Brent

fell to $66.17 per barrel, down 1.05% on the day.

Gold prices advanced in opposition to the easing greenback.

Spot gold rose 0.27% to $3,327.19 an ounce. U.S. gold

futures rose 0.06% to $3,284.50 an ounce.